All praise the beans!

[AxelHeyst]

Related, DIY Haybox out of left-over foam insulation:

[jacob]

No need to build anything. Given that pressure cookers are hermetically sealed, you can just put them in bed under the blankets.

[theanimal]

Has that worked for you? Whenever I've done it, I end up losing pressure earlier than desired (even with 20* sleeping bag and multiple blankets). There is also the issue of moisture from the steam.

[guitarplayer]

That sounds just like a thermal cooker. You can do the same for stews, soups, legumes, grains, meats, and so on. Really anything.

Okay @theanimal, challenge accepted.

Separately, yesterday I scavenged sourdough pizza base and now thinking about making sourdough pizzas and breads again (I used to regularly in 2016/17).

Pizza or bread with legumes, any creatives? I am thinking up the production chain, not beans on toast.

Simplest is to add chickpea flower, but surely there's another way.

[jacob]

Has that worked for you? Whenever I've done it, I end up losing pressure earlier than desired (even with 20* sleeping bag and multiple blankets). There is also the issue of moisture from the steam.

Yeah. Heat loss rate is just a function of (cooker heat - room heat)/amount of blankets. The Kuhn-Rikon design doesn't sputter steam like the conventional cookers.

[zbigi]

+1 on Kuhn-Rikon. Expensive as hell, but very reliable. Also, the company ships (sells) spare parts via mail - I damaged my valve and they sold me a replacement.

[Scott 2]

I sold my Kuhn-Rikon. It's a great pressure cooker, but slow cooker beans are the way. No pre-soak, no watching, trivial cleanup. More forgiving than lentils too.

A 1.5 quart slow cooker draws around 80 watts. So the power cost is a few cents. If that's your biggest energy leak, you've already won.

I ate 10 day old black beans last week. My body had no objections.


The only caveat is kidney beans. My slow cooker doesn't reach the necessary boil. I opt for canned instead.

[theanimal]

I sold my Kuhn-Rikon. It's a great pressure cooker, but slow cooker beans are the way. No pre-soak, no watching, trivial cleanup. More forgiving than lentils too.

Pre-soaking beans is not a pressure cooker specific thing. One of the main functions is reducing oligosaccharides, which makes them much easier on the digestive system (ie no gas). It also reduces phytic acid, which can inhibit the uptake the absorption of minerals like calcium, zinc, and iron.

Eating wise, I much prefer the texture of soaked beans to those that are not. Less cooking time is an added bonus.

[Scott 2]

I've had zero problems skipping the step. I dump beans, spices and water in my slow cooker in the morning. When I remember, typically early evening, maybe not until bedtime, I empty the crock. It's always fine.

[guitarplayer]

Pre-soaking beans is not a pressure cooker specific thing. One of the main functions is reducing oligosaccharides, which makes them much easier on the digestive system (ie no gas). It also reduces phytic acid, which can inhibit the uptake the absorption of minerals like calcium, zinc, and iron.

Is it just the act of soaking that reduces oligosaccharides and phytic acid or these stay in the water?

I chuck everything in the slow cooker in the evening, then set the timer for them to start at 6am, then they are both pre-soaked and slow cooked, in the same water though.

I eat so much of this stuff that my digestive system is used to it all, and I probably get amounts of calcium, zinc and iron above your average legume eater anyway.

[theanimal]

My understanding is that they stay in the water. We soak ours, drain and rinse them, then fill again when we are ready to cook.

[Scott 2]

Chat GPT said:


When you cook beans in a slow cooker without presoaking, the extended cooking time at a low temperature allows enzymes to break down oligosaccharides, the complex sugars responsible for gas production. Slow cooking also helps beans retain more of their natural digestive enzymes, which may aid in breaking down these sugars before they reach your gut, reducing fermentation by bacteria that cause gas. Additionally, cooking beans thoroughly makes their starches and fibers easier to digest, further minimizing bloating and discomfort.


Dunno if that's all true, but it matches my experience.

[Ego]

Pressure cooking also reduces the resistant (indigestible) starch in beans, which is what makes them so valuable to our gut microbiome. Resistant starch is what gut bacteria feeds on.

Storing beans in the fridge for 24 hours after they've been soaked and cooked causes the resistant starch to reform. Other foods high in resistant starch like sweet potatoes and brown rice see significant increases in resistant starch when they are refrigerated after cooking as well. Leftovers for the win!.

We've been eating a lot of purple sweet potatoes and very dark whole grain rice, in addition to our normal black beans, lentils, garbanzos and kidney beans here in SE Asia.

[thef0x]

Sounds beautiful looking, Ego, and as someone who can be a bit visually turned off by the brown mush that can be lentils, I'm a bit jealous! <-- finishing with fresh herbs is a great trick for that visual contrast / deeply saturated colors. Can I request a pic, if you're so inclined?

In the spirit of Slevin's post, I made KISS chana masala yesterday. I used three heaping tablespoons of pre-made spices sauted in olive oil in my instantpot with the chickpeas, then added two large cans of diced tomato, a couple of diced onions, a few pinches of salt, and some home made chicken stock. 30 min on high pressure (presoaked beans overnight).

I'm working my way through a sinus cold and let me tell you, this was ~pharmacological in it's decongestant power even with two large dollops of greek yogurt -- holy moses; my wife asked me to open the windows while making it I blended the top layer of tomatoes to get a more even consistency but doing so blended up a bit too much garbanzo, oh well.

Spicy enough that I might just turn it into a thick hot sauce; could be so good on a sandwich to add some zing.